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Keep any Leonardo DiCaprio jokes to yourself. Winters in Colorado are rough. Aside from the minor annoyances, like not being able to feel my toes for hours at a time, there are major obstacles to be overcome. Where can I brew when my deck has five feet of snow covering it? So after […] Ordinarily, I post recipes as soon as they’re brewed, but with there being so many question marks on this one I felt that I needed to wait at least until I pulled the FG sample to weigh in. My first brew session in Colorado was full of other firsts too: First time using a new […] Last month I posted a brief summary of the troubles I was having with the de facto standard refractometer correlation for final gravity. Specifically, I found that it under-estimates FGs by, on average, about five “points”. More interesting, or at least more useful, I also found that the degree of the discrepancy is fairly well […] A refractometer is one of the most useful tools a brewer can have. It allows for near-instantaneous measurements of specific gravity, without having to compensate for or adjust sample temperature or withdraw a large volume of wort/beer (a significant concern at homebrew scales). There are a few issues associated with accurately using a refractometer for […] It’s spring cleaning time in the brewery. I’ve given the kegerator a good once-over, scrubbed the kettles shiny, replaced all the vinyl tubing, and so now it must be time for instrument calibrations. I check the hydrometer and refractometer every few batches because it’s so easy (use water and a 10% sucrose solution), but it […] Background The ale yeast pitching rate generally recommended by commercial brewers is one billion cells, per liter of wort, per degree Plato. Assuming a 25% loss in viability prior to re-pitching results in the rule of thumb of 0.75 billion/L-°P. However, yeast products designed to inoculate at this level are not available on the homebrew […] Suffice it to say that I’m not so wild about religion. I have nothing against funny hats, and some of the music is very nice; it’s just that blind adherence gives me the willies. I fully acknowledge a continuum of harm, but psychologically, chemically speaking, there’s no difference between getting up earlier than you want […] It probably isn’t necessary to stir Iodophor. OK, so the world probably won’t be beating a path to my door. But there’s a right way to do it, and a wrong way – and a lot of home brewers are doing it the wrong way. The basic idea behind these homebrew stirplates is to […] I’ve finished the last starter needed to round out my aeration experiments. Once again, the main post has been updated with the full data set and some additional thoughts. I was able to brew the test beers for the Yeast Pitching Rate Experiment today. Some notes on the brew session can be found on the main experimental page. 85% efficiency on a 1.059 beer, though… I do love my Barley Crusher. |
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